Mobile Matters Most

IT'S FINALLY HERE

A tipping point has occurred on the web. Starting now, mobile matters most. Say it again with me: Mobile Matters Most. Google has recently announced that it will evaluate the quality of your search ranking based primarily on what it 'sees' as your mobile presence. Bing and other search providers are slated to follow very shortly.

Say What?

I always encourage clients to occasionally review with me some basic web monitoring tools for their sites, such Google Webmaster Tools. (What, we haven't done that recently? Well, let's do it!) In any case, when you look at these reports, you see that search engine providers rank your site based partly on the quality of your site and not just the 'popularity'. (By 'quality' I mean, things like speed, how the pages are organized, readability, etc.) And you've no doubt seen that there are separate quality scores for a traditional desktop (or laptop) presentation vs. a typical 'mobile' device (cell phones and tablets) presentation.

Now in the past, Google weighted the desktop presentation as more important for search results. In other words, when someone performed a search from a desktop or laptop, that contributed more to your site's search ranking than searches performed from a mobile phone. This made sense since most people were using the web primarily from their desktop or laptop. But not any more. Now, most people are doing searches on the go, using smaller devices without a traditional keyboard. So your site needs to reflect that in terms of usability. Immediately.

Why You Should Care

Again, most visitors are now trying to find you on the go. They may sit down later to dive into the details of what you offer, but more often, their initial contact will be from an iPhone or a Galaxy Tablet and not from their traditional keyboard.

What has been frustrating for me sometimes with clients is getting people to actually start living this concept on their own sites. My guess is that you or your family are already living this in your own daily life, but not necessarily realizing that your clients and visitors need to be able to do the same with your site.

As so often happens, we get used to doing things on other sites long before we realize that we need to do exactly the same things on our own sites. In other words: everyone else is using our sites the way we use Amazon or Facebook or Tumblr or whatever. But since we don't routinely use our own sites, we're often very late to the party.

What we should be doing is routinely using our sites the way we use our favourite sites. We need to have those same expectations. If we're unsure, we need to be annoying to our spouses, our children, our friends, our colleagues. We need to get everyone we know to try our sites on all their devices and give us their feedback. They will tell you if your site is truly mobile-friendly!

The Mechanics

Now, how do we do this? By simply doing what the best advertizing minds have known for a hundred years: Your site needs to be SIMPLE and DIRECT and EASY TO NAVIGATE. And that means that you need to re-think not just the screen size but YOUR MESSAGE.
(Sorry for shouting, but this is IMPORTANT! )

You can't have messages that take three paragraphs and ten pictures. You have to get your ideas across with one or two really strong sentences and one fantastic image. You need to ask for only the information you absolutely need when a customer fills out a form. Less is more.

But you're still not done. Then to be consistent, all your marketing materials will need to adapt to the Mobile First strategy. Your messaging needs to be more concise, your imagery scalable for a range of sizes and devices, your designs likely a lot more simple. And the great thing? This can work to your advantage if you re-think everything you're doing: can it be easier, shorter, simpler, punchier? Those are all good things!

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Hey's it's the holidays! So especially now, I know you're busy. Hopefully my occasional nags help you think about ways to improve your marketing. But even if you don't have a thing for me to work on at present (shocking but possible) drop me a line anyway and let me know how things are going; market-wise or otherwise. It's always good to hear from you--especially this time of year!

Best,

JC'S KEY IDEAS FOR DECEMBER 2016

• Mobile Matters Most
  Google and other search providers have always ranked your site mostly on the basis of desktop presentation. But now, they look primarily at how your site appears on mobile devices.
• The Mobile Site
  Your site's primary focus now should be towards your mobile audience and that means a design that takes the mobile device as the main way users will interact with you.
• The Mobile Mindset
  To be consistent, all your marketing materials will need to adapt to the Mobile First strategy. Your messaging needs to be more concise, your imagery scalable for a range of sizes and devices, your designs likely a lot more simple. This can work to your advantage if you re-think everything you're doing: can it be easier, shorter, simpler, punchier? Those are all good things!

mail@jchwebdev.com

(206) 949-0892

© 2016